Original subtitles

In August 1939, Poland calls for violence against the Reich.

Because England wants war, Poland wants war.

Supported by promises of aid from the Western powers,

Warsaw overreaches its provocations against Germany.

Rydz-Smigly parades his army.

They dream of a greater Poland.

The Pilsudski-style political megalomania is boundless.

As planned at Versailles,

Poland has built up its peacetime strength:

30 divisions, standing army 2 million men.

It would suit these gentlemen just fine

if Polish tanks broke through the Reich's borders

and drove it back to the EIbe,

to Bremen, Hannover, Kassel, perhaps even as far as Nuremburg.

The first target is Danzig.

But Danzig is German...

was German...

and will remain German!

On August 10th, Gauleiter Forster warns...

And Danzig can rest easy.

Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht

are ready to take on greater Germany's freedom fight.

The German Forces are armed.

With cheers, the old Hanseatic city

greets the training ship Schleswig-Holstein

presenting the greatest navy.

And like a sword in the sky, our young Luftwaffe is ready, resolved

to crush any who dare to break the European peace.

Attention, Attention. London here, with news in German.

Lord Halifax has declared in Chambers

that our guarantee to Poland is in force.

England's fleet is ready to put to sea in a few hours.

British citizens are leaving the Reich.

Attention, Warsaw here.

Poland is defending the freedom of all people

Danzig must go to Poland.

Hello, this is Radio Paris.

Hitler murders Europe.

One and a half million Frenchmen are deployed against the Westwall.

London is the hub of the warmongers.

Between Downing Street and Parliament House,

the plutocracy let their puppets dance.

It is the fateful hour, when England gave Poland carte blanche.

The democrats' hysterical hatred of Germany boils over.

The diplomats play their cards.

Poland should strike. Germany will strike back.

Then you have your grounds for war, Mr. Chamberlain.

The man on the street gets a different story...

handed out by England's Jewish War Minister Hore-Belisha.

What is this? Hitler wants war?

Poland is already in a state of war!

Here the homes and farms of the ethnic Germans are already burning;

here the defenseless are massacred.

Thousands flee into the Reich.

The elderly, women, and children who had been hiding in the forests

now slip across the border.

How much have these people had to suffer?

Just because they are Germans!

The Luftwaffe has swapped its airfields

with East Prussia, Pomerania, and the Baltic Sea.

High Alert. Any hour can bring the order for action.

Borders and coastline, large cities, bridges and industry,

are under our protection.

The aircraft are camouflaged against surprise attacks.

Bombs are loaded.

It's just like on maneuvers, but now the bombs are live.

A dangerous cargo, geared to break any resistance.

The engines are checked.

Fueling up.

It must be said.

Even the best airplane, the most courageous crew,

are lost if the ground personnel are not absolutely reliable.

Wabu means Arms Bunker.

Machine gun munitions are girded.

The MG in the bow is ready.

The last bomb is hung. The bomb bay closes.

Woe betide if it opens above enemy territory!

Germany's air power is ready.

Anyone who wants peace must be armed for war.

The Führer still makes a final attempt to rescue the peace.

The world holds its breath.

September 1!

Ambushes on Reich's territory!

Beuthen is shelled by Polish artillery.

Two are known dead, thirty-five injured.

This is war!

Brake blocks away!

The German Luftwaffe starts its first enemy flight.

Stukas.

Reconnaissance aircraft.

Seaplanes.

Fighters.

Bombers.

The first flight over enemy territory.

Deep into Poland's heart, the German sword is thrust.

In cockpits and tailfins, men are at their MGs.

Like flying fish, the fast fighters pull alongside the bombers.

Pilots and observers know their orders:

find military targets, march routes, rail lines, airfields,

and supply columns.

Attention! Deployment road!

Get ready!

In the flight path, small tufts. The Poles are shooting.

Just wait! We will answer with bombs.

A last glance at the map.

There's the railway junction!

Ready...

Go!

Fire and smoke cover junctions and rail lines.

German air power has discharged a torrent of steel.

Course, homeward.

The mission is accomplished.

As the wind plays,

our fighters buzz around the conquered air space.

On the flight back, we see the effect of the air strikes:

Railroad tracks are torn up.

Stations lie in ash and rubble.

Long trains stand abandoned.

An indescribable chaos.

Beneath us the tattered land looks like a cratered landscape.

We are in our home port, back from our first sortie.

Hello, comrades of the ground crew!

There is work to do!

Yes, Sir! Let's do this!

When machines come back, they are thirsty.

And we have to fly a few more times today.

Like hungry maws, the bays open for a new bombfeed.

A reconnaissance plane has landed.

They are the eyes of the Army.

They see deep into enemy territory,

and nothing stays hidden from their cameras.

The photo lab is set up in a forest.

Specialists and trained teams evaluate

the strategic and tactical information from the reconnaissance material.

This gives commanders the basis for planning further operations.

These pictures reveal the strength and weakness of the enemy.

These photos show what will be put into action on our next flight.

Westerplatte, Poland's bulwark against Danzig.

German Stukas will hammer down on the bunkers.

Attention: Start the dive!

Direct hit on Westerplatte!

Back at base, our Stukas are many kilos lighter.

But the lost weight will soon be compensated.

There's a mishap.

An aircraft comes back without its undercarriage.

Shot away.

A final loop over the field.

Start the belly landing.

Catch it slowly, do not flip!

Bravo!

You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.

Our young Luftwaffe has received its baptism of fire.

The experience thrills every heart,

and everyone is eager to engage the enemy anew.

Discussing maps for the next mission. We want to go again.

Bring up a new bomb!

You have to take your time with such a heavy load.

Refueling finished, now off to a new attack!

Dive-bomb attack on a freight yard!

Release!

Attention! Enemy column on the road!

Report of the Wehrmacht High Command: On September 1st,

Report of the Wehrmacht High Command: On September 1st,

the Luftwaffe attacks many Polish airfields.

On the 2nd, the Luftwaffe furiously strikes other military objectives.

September 3rd, the two air fleets have absolute control of Polish air space.

In the following days,

the Luftwaffe supports the Army by joining ground battle.

Military transports are bombed,

marching columns and trains are attacked.

The enemy's retreat is thwarted.

We're in enemy territory to see the ground after an air strike.

This is how all important military targets were destroyed from the air

within a few days.

And here is what was left of the Polish Air Force:

Skeleton after skeleton, a pile of wreckage.

At Thorn, we capture factory-new fighters.

These plucked birds never got to fly.

By the woods, a camouflaged reconnaissance plane

falls into our hands.

At Bromberg, the Luftwaffe occupies the first enemy airbase.

Craters are shoveled in, and the runway is leveled off.

In just 12 hours, this Polish airfield has become a German one.

But Polish signs forbid unauthorized entry.

We're flying from Bromberg to Thorn.

The railroad station in Bromberg.

Air-raid trenches, bomb hits.

The Poles did not leave a single bridge undamaged.

Between Polish flight and German advance,

all bridges are destroyed.

The Weichsel River.

Between Bromberg and Thorn, between the Brahe and Weichsel,

is ancestral German land.

Ethnic Germans cross over to their liberated homes.

The advance goes on.

The September sun is hot.

Dust hangs over Poland like fog.

And impassable as this land may be --

Poland's bad roads have been called her Maginot Line --

the German advance continues.

It is unstoppable.

Report from Wehrmacht September 10th:

Many units near Radom are surrounded.

To support the Army, air formations join in the ground fighting.

The Wehrmacht High Command announces: On September 11th,

the surrounded Polish group at Radom has ceased to exist.

The number of prisoners cannot be assessed yet.

The great battle in Poland is approaching its climax.

On September 12th,

the ring around the Polish capital is closed to the east.

Nine Polish divisions and three cavalry brigades

are surrounded in the Kutno arena.

Desperate attempts by the enemy to break through are thwarted.

The unit's concentric counterattack is in full swing.

Again on the 13th, Polish troops seek a way out.

The ring around Kutno is strengthened and tightened.

On the 14th, more desperate counterattacks are thwarted.

Camp log: By the 15th, the Polish Army is encircled.

September 16: Kutno is taken.

The retreat to Warsaw is also cut off.

About a quarter of the Polish Army

is cramped together awaiting dissolution.

Mass attacks by the Luftwaffe hasten the dissolution.

September 17. The last day of the battle for the Polish campaign,

the annihilating blow.

The Luftwaffe joins the ground battle.

Long dust trails are churned up.

We are over the battlefield between the Weichsel and the Bzura.

And now, on with the death and destruction!

Bombs rain from the sky!

A hailstorm of steel.

Smoke and flames mark the retreat of the shattered Polish Army.

Squadron after squadron take off late into the evening.

Each crew flying six, seven, or eight missions -- a hot day!

Once more we take off to experience the nightly battlefield.

Once more we take off to experience the nightly battlefield.

We will never forget the images of this flight.

Below us the Bzura,

the river where nine Polish Divisions met their fate.

The Weichsel.

A heavy thunderstorm lies over the river.

Modlin, the last fortress before Warsaw.

The battlefield, blaze upon blaze.

All around a burning landscape.

Next morning we drive to the area where Poland's defeat was sealed.

This is Sochaczew, the bridgehead on the Bzura.

The wind spreads the fire from house to house.

Air-signal-corps troops are among the first in the city.

The communications between leaders and the front must never be disrupted.

In long columns, the defeated army moves through the streets.

The war is behind them.

Ahead is captivity.

We're on the road from Sochaczew to Wyszogrod.

It's the road of the lost divisions.

Here perished the Polish Army

that tried to withdraw to Warsaw after the battle of Kutno.

Not a single man from these nine divisions reached Warsaw.

The pass through the Bzura...

Napoleon's crossroad over the Berezina.

And now on this road of horror, the first refugees return,

victims of the ruthless warmongers.

The great German victory was not obtained without losses.

The Ju 52 is used as a military hospital,

safely transporting those who could only be saved by an operation

to Berlin in just two hours.

The Weichsel battle has ended.

The Polish Army is destroyed in just 18 days.

This war cannot go down in history

as the obliteration of a small, poorly equipped force

by a modern giant army.

The German soldier had to fight a well-armed opponent,

often while badly outnumbered.

The advance continues across the Bzura toward Warsaw.

From the Wehrmacht Report of September 20:

only Modlin and Warsaw still offer resistance.

We must consider the magnitude of the Polish defeat

to grasp the criminal madness with which the people in Warsaw

were persuaded that Poland was not yet lost.

Charred villages, burned in battle or in retreat.

Only chimneys remain, like tombstones in a graveyard.

Below us the Weichsel, sand-choked and ruined, like Poland's life blood.

Demolished bridges, blocked waterways.

There are prison camps throughout the land.

Poland's rail network has been torn apart by the Luftwaffe.

Those were supply trains.

This was a railway embankment where a munitions train stood.

Our Stukas hit with deadly accuracy.

Poland is lost!

But her leaders still hope for a miracle of England's favor

promised them by the lying London radio network until the very last day.

It is the final battle for Poland's capital.

The bombardment of the forts has begun.

The outer forts are taken.

The Poles withdraw into the inner city.

Our troops stand in the suburbs.

In the burning suburbs, the mob is looting.

An armored train hurled from the tracks like a toy.

Okecie, the capital's airport, is a picture of devastation.

Our bombers finished it off in the first days of the war.

Warsaw's position is hopeless.

The German High Command drop leaflets on the city.

At the airfields around Warsaw,

the Luftwaffe is limited to reconnaissance.

It has gotten cold,

but an improvised barracks helps.

The days are spent waiting.

The German warning is unheeded.

Warsaw will not be reasonable!

The white flag along a street? Surrender?

No!

Diplomats and foreigners seek German protection.

In Warsaw, madness still triumphs.

The city commandant compels the people to resist,

making the open city a fortress.

September 25: Luftwaffe orders.

The Luftwaffe is ordered to break military resistance

in the Luftwaffe's last operation of the campaign.

Even the Ju 52 see action.

There, Warsaw on September 25th.

The drama of a city draws to a close.

The bombardment begins at dawn.

The flames rise from Warsaw's fortifications, batteries, and trenches.

After only a few hours,

a dark gray curtain of smoke drifts over the houses.

Now it shows what a monstrous crime it was

to make Poland's capital a fortress

and to call the populace to senseless resistance!

Between flights, a bite from the field kitchen.

Then it's back over the city.

Flight after flight.

The wind drives the smoke eastward.

The sun glares off the white cumulus clouds.

The heat of the flames raising them in bizarre formation

like a gigantic mountain range.

Below it lies Hell.

36 hours later, Warsaw surrenders.

The German Wehrmacht have struck their blow.

Now the weapons are silent.

Weapons at the ready, our guards stand at the outskirts of the city.

After frightful days and nights,

the starving populace leave their cellars and fill the streets.

No one is allowed to leave the city, except for a group of orphans.

During the negotiations, we fly over the city again.

Without bombs this time.

Mister Chamberlain is to accompany us on this flight!

What do you say now, Mister Chamberlain?

Here you can see for yourself the catastrophe you have wrought.

Don't you fear the curse of a people betrayed?

Here is the result of your ruthless war politics!

This is all your doing!

An offense you will have to answer for before the judgment of world!

And take heed,

this is how it is when the German Luftwaffe strikes.

It will know how to find the most guilty of all.

Our Warsaw flight is over.

The shadow of our aircraft glides over the negotiations...

as the curtain falls on this Polish drama.

The surrender is signed.

Commandant and mayor return to the city

to perform their last official act.

The march out begins that night.

One can understand the good spirits of these prisoners,

knowing they are ethnic German students

who were drafted into the Polish Army.

The withdrawal continues into the next day.

Railway workers.

Firefighters.

On the morning of September 28th,

the German advance guard marches into Poland's capital.

Barricades.

The main train station.

Bombed underground tracks.

The military headquarters in Warsaw.

Officers of two fronts face one another

as surrender terms are read out.

German troops march across Pilsudski Square.

But at the city gates the rest of a defeated army gather.

While those in power fled abroad like cowards shirking their duty.

With man and horse and wagon, the Lord has struck them down!